Cochrane Library Podcasts

Around the world, approximately four million babies die every year before they are one month old, with almost half of these deaths occurring on the first day. In September 2015, a new Cochrane Review brought together the evidence on the potential benefits of standardised formal neonatal resuscitation training programs. One of the authors, Mohan Pammi from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, USA outlines the findings in this evidence pod.

Dysmenorrhoea, or period pain, is a common problem and several Cochrane Reviews from the Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility Group have examined the effects of a variety of interventions for this. An updated review from July 2015 examines the evidence for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. One of the review’s authors and also the Group’s Coordinating Editor, Cindy Farquhar, from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, tells us what they found.

Low back pain is highly prevalent and is the leading cause of disability across the world. The Cochrane Library contains several reviews of possible treatments and these were added to in July 2015, when we published a new review on the effects of Pilates. One of the authors, Leonardo Costa from the University City of São Paulo in Brazil, tells us more in this Evidence Pod.

Alongside its benefits, one of the unwelcome outcomes of exercise can be sore muscles and, so, ways to prevent or treat this might be important for athletes, whether they are professional or amateur. In September 2015, as the Rugby World Cup began, a new Cochrane Review examined the evidence on one intervention, whole-body cryotherapy or exposure to extremely cold air. One of the authors, Joseph Costello, from the University of Portsmouth in the UK, tells us more.

Cochrane Overviews bring together the findings from multiple reviews and one of the largest was published first in August 2013 and updated in July 2015. Cindy Farquhar, from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand describes this enormous volume of evidence for assisted reproduction.

An updated Cochrane Review from July 2015 tried to answer the question of whether screening women for intimate partner violence (or domestic violence) in health care settings is effective. Lorna O’Doherty, a research fellow at Coventry University in the UK has been working with colleagues from Australia, the UK and US to review the evidence and tells us what they found.

The Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group has produced hundreds of Cochrane Reviews over the last 20 years, and continues to prepare several new reviews each year, and keep the existing ones up-to-date. They published the update for the review of calcium supplementation during pregnancy in February 2015, and Nancy Medley from the Department of Women's and Children's Health at the University of Liverpool in the UK, describes the latest findings.

As well as trying to identify effective treatments for the cancer itself, Cochrane Reviews look at interventions that might help with some of the other challenges people faced when given this diagnosis, including fatigue and depression. Giovanni Ostuzzi from the University of Verona in Italy and colleagues have looked at the latter and their review appeared in June 2015.

Fatigue is a problem for many of those who survive a stroke and effective interventions would bring benefits to millions of people around the world. An updated Cochrane Review in July 2015 looks at the research that has been done and Simiao Wu, from the West China Hospital at Chengdu in China, who is currently at the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences in the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, tells us what they found.

Cochrane Methodology Reviews investigate ways to improve the quality and efficiency of research studies, including data gathering. Here’s José Marcano Belisario, from the Global eHealth Unit at Imperial College London in the UK, to tell us about his July 2015 review of using mobile apps to administer surveys.